Cash Registers and Cash Register Systems have become commonplace in retail establishments which offer consumers a variety of products and services which the consumer must pay for using either currency or credit. The Cash Registers and Cash Register Systems become the temporary repository of whatever coins, paper currency, account credit vouchers, credit cards receipts, and debit card receipts used by the consumer to pay for the products or services offered by a retailer.
Cash Register and Cash Register Systems, hereinafter referred to as Registers or Cash Registers, that accept credit cards and debit cards generally require an online or dial-up connection from the Register to the credit or debit card issuer, merchant bank or to a gateway service offering credit or debit card processing services. Any of these approaches can be used to verify the availability of funds or credit and thereby authorize the completion of the transaction at the Register. The online or dial-up connection to the Register must be secure and must generally be a dedicated connection that is available on demand to insure satisfactory transactions in terms of speed and reliability.
Cash Registers that accept credit cards often require the customer to surrender their credit card to an attendant, waiter, waitress, bartender, or other retail sales person in order to have the card swiped into the business' register system. This often puts the consumer's credit card out of direct visual contact and presents an opportunity for fraudulent use or misappropriation of the consumer's credit card or the information contained thereon.
A personal wireless communication device includes not only cell phones but also a personal digital assistant (PDA), IPOD, IPHONE, Smartphone, laptop computer or other similar personal wireless communication device, which can be used to communicate with a remote server.
In the past there have been attempts to vend or sell products or services without using cash but these have been primarily concerned with the use of credit cards in which the vending machine or cash register has a connection to the world wide internet or some other communication to approve the use of the credit card. One prior system as disclosed in the Whigham U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,309 is for a method of authorizing the purchase of a product from an automatic vending machine by means of a consumer's cellular telephone. In this system the consumer uses a cellular phone to request a product from a vending machine by dialing a specified telephone number to connect the consumer's phone to a server operated by a billing agency. The server identifies the product and creates a request for purchase of the product and a transaction record and sends a “vend code” to the consumer's cell phone, which allows the consumer to purchase the product.
Other systems using cellular telephone or wireless communication devices may be seen in the Johnson, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 7,039,389, for a cellular telephone-based retail transaction system for dispensing fuel and in the Carapelli U.S. Pat. No. 7,574,377, for a vending system for vending to purchasers having cellular phones or the like enabled to a wireless internet connection for communication over the internet. The Zhu U.S. Pat. No. 7,577,616, provides for a method for secure authentication or electrical payment utilizing a random ID verification method through a mobile communication tool. U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,749, teaches a wireless telephony for collecting tolls, conducting financial transactions, and authorizing other activities. U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,884 uses a wireless interface module to interface with a vending machine control system to allow communication between vending machines and a wireless network by coupling a transceiver to the wireless interface module. The Khan et al U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,236 is for a micropayment financial transaction process utilizing wireless network processing while the McGarry et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,491, is for a monitoring and reporting system using a cellular carrier.
Other prior U.S. patents include the Morrill, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,749 for a wireless telephony for collecting tolls, conducting financial transactions, and authorizing other activities and the Birch et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,742 for a fuel dispensing system having a plurality of fuel dispensers capable of conducting a fueling transaction using a customer's cellular telephone. Also, the Loeser U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,854 for a Payment System by Means of a Mobile Device and the Pond et al. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2004/0030601 for Ele4ctronic Payment Methods for a Mobile Device and the Ramming U.S. Patent Publication Number U.S. 2003/0023509 for Method For Selecting and Paying for Items with a Mobile Terminal and in U.S. Patent Publication No. U.S. 2008/0035724 to Vawter for Transaction Information Mining.
My prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/653,741 is for a Method of Establishing Credit on a Vending Device and establishes a currency amount on a vending machine in order to obtain a product or service using a cellular telephone or personal wireless communication device, using an applet placed on the personal wireless communication device that can communicate with a vending universal wireless device placed on the vending machine.
The present invention relates to a Vending Universal Wireless Interface (VUWI); which includes Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless LAN or other RF Transceiver with outputs that can be connected to the USB or Serial Port of a cash register or cash register system or printer microprocessor controller in order to interface with the microprocessor or with software being executed by the cash register or printer's microprocessor. The VUWI contains a power supply, a microprocessor, an RF Transceiver using either Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless LAN or other RF Transceiver protocols, as well as physical connector outputs. The VUWI can be connected to a Register or printer's microprocessor controller in order to interface with the microprocessor or with software being executed by the cash register or printer's microprocessor to execute a credit transaction on the register or to create a printed credit/debit card receipt on the printer.